SOURCE: "T. H. Huxley's Rhetoric and the Popularization of Victorian Scientific Ideas: 1854-1874," in Victorian Studies, Vol. 29, No. 3, Spring, 1986, pp. 363-86.

In this essay, Block explores Huxley's rhetorical style and the extent to which he shaped modern scientific writing.

The most recent books treating Thomas Henry Huxley make a strong claim for the impact that his work had on developing a sense of "man's place in nature" and his place in science during the nineteenth century.¹ Critics agree that many of Huxley's essays remain important landmarks and persuasive defenses of Victorian science. Yet few have sought to describe precisely how Huxley's drive for "unity in diversity" developed,² or how his fabled "clarity of expression"³ effectively accommodated itself to the lesser knowledge and stronger prejudices of his different audiences. I propose to sketch briefly the evolution of Huxley's rhetorical strategy in some of his popular scientific essays. I shall...